T w e n t y S i d e d
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I turn forty-one today. A week from tomorrow, this site will turn seven. I have been working on this site for 17% of my life. The site has 3,279 published articles and just over 208,000 comments. So that’s kind of interesting.
Link (YouTube) |
If you started reading this year, then you might want to read the Autoblography, which I wrote a year ago as part of the run-up to my mid-life crisis.
D&D Campaign
WAY back in 2005, I wrote about a D&D campaign I was running. The campaign is still there, in the bottom-most strata of the archives.
The Best of 2012
My picks for what was important, awesome, or worth talking about in 2012.
Philosophy of Moderation
The comments on most sites are a sewer of hate, because we're moderating with the wrong goals in mind.
Final Fantasy X
A game about the ghost of an underwater football player who travels through time to save the world from a tick that controls kaiju satan. Really.
The Best of 2011
My picks for what was important, awesome, or worth talking about in 2011.
Happy Birthday Shamus!
Happy birthday.Have some cake.And the cake is alive.
Congratulations Shamus!
Congratulations \o/ Here’s to many more years
Happy Birthday Shamus! Been here since DM of the Rings began, and still love that Bowling vid. Here’s to many more years of gamey-nerdy bloggitude!
Happy birthday!
Have loved this site till a friend pointed me at the DMOTR comics.
Happy Birthday, Shamus! :) I also realised that I’ve been visiting this site for about 5 or 6 of the last 7 years… Wow. Here’s to another 7 more!
Happy Birthday Shamus! It seems we have this day in common.
Merry Christmas..no, wait…have a nice arbor day…no, that’s also not the right one…hmm…oh, yeah right…how could I have forgotten…
HAPPY EASTER!!!
Happy Birthday, Shamus. May you continue to weave words for a long time. :)
Happy birthday, Shamus Fry! Oops, I mean Steven Young, wait… I, er- For he’s a jolly good fellow and all that.
Steven?
Happy Birthday!
Happy birthday Shamus.
Now you have levelled up, what are you going to spend your skill points on?
Cake-eating +1, obviously. :)
Everyone knows you pass up Energy weapons for Cake-eating silly.
Take the Perk Cannibalism, make cake out of PEOPLE!
Am I allowed a ‘SOYLENT CAKE IS PEOPLE!’?
But it is still a lie, which means people are a lie. Which also explains why soylent cake is a lie.
Happy Birthday Shamus, I also dinged today, but just to level 22, so I’m still quite some tiers under. :P
Hey, me too! *High-fives*
I did wonder why you’d reposted this particular video… until I started watching it and was reminded of the music is was set to.
Congrats on being older than you’ve ever been, Shamus!
I reacted exactly the same way.
Happy Birthday!
…oh yeah, the music.
I just figured it was the most celebratory video he’d made.
Happy birthday! Just one more year, then you have that answer… ;)
We wish you a happy birthday, Shamus!
Happy Birthday, Mr Young! Nah, just kidding Happy Birthday, Shamus!
I started reading this website because of DM of the Rings, catching the right tail end of it I believe, and now, well, I have been happy to be on with you for this part of the ride.
Happy Birthday, Shamus!
So forty one years Young? Congratulations (and apologies) to you. Now get offa my lawn you youngsters!
Happy Birthday, Shamus!
Happy Birthday old man Shamus.
Congratulations! Many happy returns.
Congratulations! Just make sure to visit your trainer so you can upgrade to mail armor.
Congratulations on setting a new personal age record, Shamus! Any words for the fans? What about the rumors that you’ll be retiring from topical complaining in favor of curmudgeoning at the Winter Olympics?
Happy Birthday Shamus!
Happy birthday Shamus, thank you for many years of entertainment. Hope that you’ll stay in good health and keep the words coming!
Happy birthday Shamus! I tend to link this song whenever a fellow ages, and this is no exception: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdbhfpF3NA0
Happy level 41 Shamus!
Holy tapdancing Jesus on a unicycle the Autoblography was a year ago?!
Well Happy 11th anniversary of your 30th birthday then
Happy Birthday Shamus! Now please put some point into energy weapons.
Happy birthday!
Happy Birthday
Just seven years? You’ve earned a lot of loyal readers in no time at all! Keep up the great writing.
Happy Birthday Shamus! Doesn’t seem that long since I wished you the same last year. Have a good one, best of luck for the year ahead!
Happy birthday Shamus!
Happy Happy Happy Birthday Shamus
Happy Birthday! Going on about 4 years reading this site. Easily my favorite blog.
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday. :)
I honestly don’t remember when it was that I started coming here regularly. It feels like just a couple of months, but it was pre-Autoblogography, so I guess it must’ve been a year or two instead… weird.
Anyway, I still love that video. The best part of that game was always murdering your guests in the most entertaining ways imaginable.
Even better, having a long queue of guests lined up to get on a rollercoaster where they will all die. Don’t you have to successfully test those things before people will get on them? Crazy.
Happy and Healthy Birthday, Shamus. 41? You’re just a kid.
41 years old and making an impact on this world with your ideas. I guess that’s a win in my opinion!
Happy Birthday Shamus :)
Happy Birthday, Shamus. Please never die. Or at least wait until I do.
Happy birthday!
Feliz cumpleaà±os!
Happy birthday and stuff. I guess.
Hey, happy birthday! Have an awesome day — I hope you get a great cake. :D
Angie
Happy birthday, Shamus. And thanks for all the fish!
Happy Birthday Shamus!
ПоздравлÑÑŽ Ñ Ð´Ð½Ñ‘Ð¼ рождениÑ! :)
Vodka, Communism, Tetris and somesuch.
…
Am I doing this right?
Happy birthday, just one more until you know the answer, eh?
Best wishes and happy birthday!
Happy Birthday, Shamus! Looking forward to wishing you many more! <3
Happy birthday shamus
Happy birthday, and many more lines of code or text.
Happy birthday!
Happy Birthday Shamus! Thanks for all the great stuff on this site.
Hooray! May you and yours see many happy returns to this day, Mr. Young!
Here’s to more splendid years of this!
Happy Birthday! Hope it’s a good one.
You do know why 41 is better than 40, yes? Because unlike 40, you’re now in the prime of your life.
Badum-tsh.
Anyways, gratz on ding!
Nice.
Bonus points if you live to be 82. Then this is also your prime factor of life.
Ahhh, but next year he will be the answer to the meaning of life, the universe, and everything.
Happy Birthday!
Happy birthday, Shamus! And many thanks for so many years of top quality content.
Happy birthday!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SHAMUS!!!
I started reading right when you ended DM of the Rings, and I’ve never stopped.
I love all your work, but really hope you do another webcomic soon!
P.S. Thanks for the random junk you gave me that one time in WoW!
P.P.S. Now that I read it, that sounded kind of sarcastic, but I really do mean it. :-)
Happy birthday, good sir. I want to congratulate you not only on surviving life on this crazy rock for 41 years, but also on putting together such a fine collection of writings. Thanks for sharing, and here’s to another (hopefully great) year.
Happy birthday, Shamus. I still say you have the most awesome mid-life crisis of any man I know. Most of the dudes I know go out and buy a sports car or a motorcycle or something. You write a couple of books (with hopefully more to come). Best midlife crisis evar.
Now that we’ve read his actual autobiography, I’d be interested in Shamus’ fictional autobiography where instead of writing books he buys a motorcycle and has all kinds of crazy adventures with John Carmack. It could be titled “My Life as a Sue-ish Nerd Power Fantasy”. Bonus points if it is ambiguously satirical and self-critical.
Basically the equivalent of Calvin’s “Everything is the same, except I have a flame-thrower.”
The opening sentence could be “I never wrote this book.”
I’d buy that book.
Also, happy birthday, Shamus!
Happy Birthday, Shamus.
I really appreciate all the time and effort you obviously put into the content that we are served, regularly. Your perspective on gaming has shifted my own. Your information on intellectual property has required me to become more invested in the issue. You’ve introduced me to many concepts in the age of digital information, and have fostered my growth into what this changes about our notions of property and value.
Your game creation and constant talking about programming has also inspired me to take another look at the programming world, and game programming, in particular. It seems so much more interesting than the general busywork of IT, even if it is more tedious.
Anyways, Happy Birthday, Happy Site Anniversary, etc.
And thank you.
New reader says happy birthday!
You should refrain from posting pictures like that if you want to keep the reputation of grouchy curmudgeon who hates all games, Mr Young. Happy birthday. :-)
Snort. Trust me, he IS curmudgeon-y– ESPECIALLY when a game he has been looking forward to doesn’t live up to his programmer brain’s (or his writer brain– whichever he is wearing that day) expectations. :)
Happy birthday, Shamus! DM of the Rings was the first thing I read on here and I subsequently archive binged for the next week.
Happy Bday Shamus!
Also, kinda like what Mari said above… “the autoblography (which is a legitimate biography) as the lead-up to my mid-life crisis!
How long have I been reading… ME2 Spoiler Warning? You were still doing Stolen Pixels and Experienced points on the Escapist regularly… at least a couple years or so I think. Definitely well before the autoblography.
Anyways here’s to many more!
Have a great birthday, Shamus. Hard to believe another year has gone by. Your writing/comicing/vidding has brought a lot of joy into the lives of many of us over the years. Here’s hoping it’s been bringing you joy too. And will for many years to come.
Happy birthday.
Happy birthday! Penblywdd hapus! I hope you have a really good day, also that’s a really nice photo of the both of you :)
Happy birthday. May you be around to point out all the dumb things video games do for many more years to come.
Happy Birthday! I never get tired of watching Rollercoaster Bowling.
Happy birthday, Shamus still-Young. :)
Happy Birthday!
Another year of hard work, interesting insights, and comfortingly odd pastimes. Keep it up!
Happy birthday, Shamus! May you have many more years of deconstructing videogames ahead of you.
Oh Shamus. “Mid-life crisis” here would mean you’d live to be 82. We both know the robots have other plans. :P
(Boy, I should not write for Hallmark…)
Congratulations Shamus! I was brought here by DM of the Rings all those years ago, and then brought back again during your Fallout 3 season of Spoiler Warning. I stuck around for that and the rest. It’s been great reading your stuff and watching your stuff, and it has been an honor to even speak with you on a couple of occasions.
In the tongue of the Grey Elves, “Aur Onnad Meren!” Happy Birthday!
PS: picture: Awwwwww… :)
Many happy returns of the day!
Happy Birthday Shamus! :D
Happy Birthday!
Thus begins the year of Life, the Universe, and Everything. Have fun!
Many happy returns of the ding.
Happy Birthday!
Very happy birthday to the only sane man on the Internet!
Happy Shamus-Day! I day to appreciate and reflect on how the world is a better place with Shamus in it. :)
Happy Birthday, Shamus!
I can’t even remember when I first followed some link and ended up at your site. I think it must have been after reading the Escapist for a while and realizing, “Hey, everything this Seamus guy says is gold.” I think it was before Spoiler Warning was a thing, but I simply can’t recall much outside of all Shamus’ posts being extraordinarily cranky.
So I guess nothing’s really changed, and I hope it never does!
Happy birthday Shamus!
Happy birthday, Shamus!
… now get off my lawn, ya dang kids!
Happy Birthday, Shamus! Another rung toward the top of that long slide of decrepitude… but I kid (sort of).
Eid Melad Saeed!
… Or Congratulations and Happy Birthday! Here’s to another seven for this awesome website.
Happy birthday, Shamus!
Happy Birthday Shamus. And the photo of you and Heather is great! :)
Happy Birfday brain for brains.
Happy birthday, Shamus! ¡Feliz Cumpleaà±os! Joyeux anniversaire! And so on.
And it has been said before, awesome mid-life crisis! Unless you are secretly dating early 20s girls, dressing in a ridiculously young fashion (not to be confused with Young fashion, I guess :P) and spending lots of money into dangerous sports that you never practiced before.
Congrats on the aging, Shamus, I will raise my cup in your honor today.
If he’s doing all those at the same time, it still sounds pretty awesome.
congratulations on living this long, I don’t know if I could do that:P.
Happy Birthday! May The Bluebird of Happiness Visit Your Abode!
Happy Birthday Shamus!
41, eh?
One more year and you can buy your new spells.
Happy Berfday, Shamus. =)
I may only have been here since Spoiler Warning the first, but I can wish you happy birthday just as well as all these DMoTR veterans!
Happy Birthday, Shamus! Now go have some fun and don’t forget to eat a lot of cake. :)
Happy birthday Shamus!
I woke up this morning, saw your twitter tweets about your birthday, but they said 4 hours ago, So I was confused on whether you were just up then or if I was a day late. Glad I didn’t miss the chance to say Happy Birthday! to one of my idols in being awesome.
Do you have any idea how your public, documented aging process impacts my own, private sense of aging? Like, I can still remember when and where I was when DMoDR ended.
When I discovered your site, I was a bloke with a browser.
Now, I am a husband and father and professional translator and pre-school teacher.
I literally cannot type anything coherent regarding how regularly reading your blog has impacted how I feel about who I am today without tearing up.
I am 100% genuine here. I view popular culture through a lens, and for the past few years, a significant chunk of that lens has been ground and polished by the wwebsite as on the internet by a certain Mr. Young.
Thank you and happy Oldening!
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^ This!
Congrats old man :D
Frà¶hlichen Geburtstag! Alles Gute dazu!
Happy Birthday! Here’s to many more years!
Happy Birthday! Thanks for all the great stuff on this site that manages to entertain me and keep me sane (There isn’t a whole lot of love for video games around here).
Just want to say I do really appreciate it and keep it up!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday, Shamus. And once again, thanks for all the effort you continually put into this site. The excellent community you’ve gathered here has always been a good online home for me, and my digital social circle would be much the poorer without you. If it would even exist at all.
Here’s to another seven years, and another seven after that.
This post had “27 comments. Suck it, base ten!”
And then I ruined it just to say “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” in all caps.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Loved the Witch Watch and have read probably everything on your site since I started following it roughly 3 or 4 years ago. Even the old D&D Campaign posts were interesting, despite being some of your much earlier work, and might’ve contributed to my continued interest in tabletoppery. I’ve found humor, inspiration, and brain meats to chew on in this blog. Hope you enjoy it and continue to for years to come! And that you live to be at least twice as old as you are now!
This post now has 27+1 comments. Base ten can continue to suck it!
Happy birthday, Shamus! Thanks for all the gut-busting laughs both DM of the Rings and Spoiler Warning have brought me! A great day to you and yours!
May I add my congratulations on achieving another year older? Yes?
Happy Birthday from a frequent lurker.
Here’s wishing you many happy returns of the day!
Happy Birthday Shamus!
Also that video never gets old no matter how much I watch it :D
Happy Birthday, Shamus, and may you have many happy returns!
Happy Birthday Shamus, and may you continue for a hundred billion years or something!
Happy birthday!
Congratulations and happy birthday!
Happy Spawning Day you young pup
Congratulations!
I wish you a pleasantly interesting year (yes, and health, success and all, but that’s standard)
A very merry unbirthday by now! Hope the birthday was a good one :-)
Happy birthday, Shamus.
Heh, been a long while since I’d seen that video. Still good stuff.
A bit late but still. Congrats!
One and a quarter articles per day? Shamus, dude, how do you do it??
And belated birthday wishes…